Ducati Team looks to rebound in Germany Fresh off a positive test at Misano, the Ducati Team heads to Germany eager to erase the memory of an unsatisfying race weekend in the Netherlands. Andrea Dovizioso will be switching to the updated version of the Desmosedici GP13 for his first Sachsenring appearance with the Italian brand, while Nicky Hayden prefers to continue with the bike’s standard iteration. The Sachsenring is one of the shortest and slowest circuits on the calendar, but it’s anything but easy, as the technical, counter-clockwise layout includes some tricky corners and a considerable amount of elevation change. Hayden has made four podium appearances at the track over the course of his MotoGP career, and while Dovizioso has only one German rostrum to his credit, it came just last year. The German Grand Prix will comprise the first half of a two-week trip for the MotoGP riders and teams, as it will be followed immediately by the United States Grand Prix, at Laguna Seca. Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team “I don’t know how the Sachsenring will be for us; as is the case at many tracks this year, this one will be new for me with the Ducati. It’s a small circuit, but it’s very complicated. I’m not crazy about it, but I’m curious to see how the Desmosedici will go there. We knew Assen wasn’t one of the easiest tracks for us, but we certainly didn’t ever expect all the problems we had. Still, we go to the Sachsenring as we always do: determined to get the best result possible.” Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team “Assen was tough for us, but the Sachsenring is a track I look forward to going to. I can’t say it’s the greatest or the most fun, but I’ve had good results there in the past. Everybody knows that the ‘waterfall’ corner is one of the best corners in all of racing, and if the bike is working well there, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a track where traction and tyre wear are both really important, and that’s not our strength at the moment, especially because we know the tyres will be pretty hard to compensate for that. We’ve got a big job ahead of us, but hopefully we can get some good momentum going. It would be nice to have more fun this weekend.” Vittoriano Guareschi – Team Manager “The Sachsenring seems like a pretty easy track when you look at it, but in reality it challenges the technicians a lot with the setup because it has many left-hand corners and one long right called Omega, where MotoGP bikes tend to stress the rear tyre a lot. Therefore, it will be very important for us to simultaneously work on grip and tyre life. We did a good job last week in a private test at Misano, so for the first time, Andrea will bring the ‘new’ bike for a race weekend. It will be very interesting to see how it works at the Sachsenring after the positive impressions he had at Misano. As for Nicky, he did some good lap times at the test, and he’ll continue with the current bike. The Sachsenring is a track where anything can happen, including with the weather, but we head to Germany expecting to do well.”